Apparatus for twisting wires together



- April 1932- A.. 'B. F. a. RICHARDSON 1,853,227

APPARATUS FOR TWISTING WIRES TOGETHER Filed Feb. 13, 1931 6 SheetsSheet 1 Fig];

//V VE N TOR MHQJW HTTORNEY Aprill2, 1932. A. B. F. G. RICHARDSON 1,853,227

APPARATUS FOR TWISTING WIRES TOGETHER Filed Feb. 13, 1931 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q INVENTOR E 5. 1T .51

BY m

' ATTORNEYS April 12, 1932. A. B. F. G. RICHARDSON APPARATUS FOR TWISTING WIRES TOGETHER 6 Sheets-Sheet L. g Q L.

r z r m E 2 ERR g.

Filed Feb. 13,

l/VVE/VTOR HTTORNEVS,

\JJ A ua/6.94.

k all N man w mm an Q A ril 12, 1932;

A. B. F. G. RICHARDSON A'PPARATUS FOR TWISTING WIRES TOGETHER Filed Feb. 13, 1931 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 J I 2 NN S Q M w, R)

IN VENTOR ATTO NEY;

April 12, 1932 A. B F. s RICHARDSON 1,853,227

APPARATUS FOR wwxswme WIRES TOGETHER Filed Feb. 13, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 4 M ATTORNEYJ BY MW Apr-n12, 1932. B. F. G. RICHARDSON 1,853,227

APPARATUS FOR TWISTING WIRES TOGETHER Filed Feb. 13, 1931 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 IN VE N TOR @M, mf/ flwwm ATTOR-NE YS to the Patented, Apr. 12, .1932 I APPARATUS TWISTENG 'WIRES .TOGETHER- .Applieationfiled a 13,";931, sem No. 515,574, and in Great Britain February 22, 1930.

This invention relates to apparatus for twisting together wires in pairs and it deals "particularly with cases where it is required to vary the relative positions of the wires'ot pair in suddemseparate steps as distingni'shed from the; gradual transposition pro- ,duced by a uniform spiral, twisting action.

The object of the invention isto provide an improved form of apparatus for efi'ecting the "i rapid changes of the relativepositions of thewires. I 7 A In machines'to which the present invention is applicable the wires to be'twisted'toigether are fed forward to a guide'member L3 and passjthrough thismember and from it to and past a point, which is a relatively short distance infront'thereof, and at, which the relativerotation of the wires is terminated. Before reachin' the guidemem'ber the Wires are given a unii orm rate ofrotation about an axis, ,Aiter passing the, guide memberthe wires'are' given a step by ste'p rotary movement of an equivalent total angular extent 7 to that otthe .uniform movement. In mechanism embodying the present lnvention this '2 tively slowly. and then, allowed to fly back quickly when released under the influence of some appliecl force, for instance a spring.

This member is arranged to have a one-way drive to the guide member so as to transmit to this member a rotation through180 during the quick return, but leave the guide membersationary during the slow forward movement. This. quick step by step drive is preferably combined with a stop mechanism to prevent the gu de member from over-rum ning. This mechanismcanbe caused to be.

moved into-ipositionby the'gearing member as it" approachesthe end of the-return stroke and the force necessary to move the stop mechanism-into position'mayact'to' reduce the speed of movement of the gearing memberwhichwill be finally broughtto rest by anappropriate stop or'bulier. I I

The 'nvention; is particularly applicable twinningfor qua-ddingof wires for the arrows.

telephone cables. I It isillustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings in whichit is shown applied to the twinning of a pair of wires. In these drawings Figure 1 indlcates diagrammatically the form of twisting obtained by the invention.

Figure 2 shows in side elevation the relevant parts of a quadding machine,

Figure 3 shows an end elevation of this machine corresponding to Figure 2 with certain parts omitted.

Figure i is a plan, in part section of the lIlGOllEllllSIIlfOI producing the sudden twisting of a pair of wires. I i

Figures 5 and Gare respectively plan and elevation of the gearing member, in this case arack. 1

Figure 7 is an elevation on the line A."A of Figure land looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 8 is a further view of part of Fig-- ure 7, the relative positions of the moving parts being altered.

Figure 9 is an elevation onthe line 13-13 of Figure looking in the direction of the arrows. y

Figure 10 is an elevation on the line.C C of Figure 4 and looking in the direction of Figure 11 is a sectional elevation on the line DD of Figure fl and looking in the direction of the arrows. t

Figure 12 is an elevation of one of the guide members looking the direction of the arrowE in Figure 11., ,j g Figure 13 is a. sectional elevation of the same guide member, also looking in the direction of the arrow B, and taken onthe line F-F in'Fignre 11. Y i

cordance with the method to which the present invention relates :a disposition .of the wires similar to that indicated in Figure l 1 results. From that figureit willbe seen that the wires ATENT orrlcsg 'AR'IEUR"BE-UCE FRASER GILLESPIE,RIOEARDSON, OF BELVEDERE; KENT, ENGLAND In twisting together a pair of wiresin 2.0-

run parallel with each other for'the greater 3 part of their length, but at intervals are given sudden twisting movements bywhich they cross over each other'and' arriveat' positions parallel with their original positionsbutdisplaced through 180 relative thereto about the axis of the pair of wires.

In Figure 2 is shown the bobbin carriage of a machine which contains two frames 100, each of which carries two bobbins. The whole carriage with its four bobbins provides for the production of a quad consisting of four wires appropriately twisted together. As the invention is only concerned with what happens to a single palr of wires before they are associated with the other pair attention will be confined to the upper frame 100 and the twisting mechanism is only illustrated in connection with that frame. The whole carriage rotates about its central longitudinal axis, but since the whole of the mechanism to which the invention relates takes part in that rotation, the rotation can be considered as aving no influence on the mechanism per se. Accordingly this rotation will be disregarded in the description of the mechanism. The carria e comprises a pair of end members 101 and 2 etween which each frame 100 is sup.- orted in bearings. The mechanism for roatin the frame continuously at a uniform speedf is mounted on the rear end member 101. It is not shown in the drawings. The front of the frame 100 has a hollow bearing member working in the bearing in the end plate 2 and through it the two wires 102 pass to the twistin mechanism. This bearing member extends beyond the front end plate 2 to a short distance and carries there a chain wheel 16, which will be hereinafter referred to.

The two wires 102 as shown in Figure 2 pass througha guide member70 and rounda draw-off pulley 103 and are then drawn-off to some other mechanism or are wound'on to a bobbin according to the further treatment to be given to them outside the scope of the present invention. As previously indicated the rotation of the frame 100, takes place continuously and accordin ly the parts of the wires 102 which are coming off those bobbins are also rotated continuously about the axis of the frame 100. At the point where the two wires come on to the draw-off pulley 103 all rotation about this axis is stopped. The momentary rate of rotation of the wires 102 is controlled by the uide member 70 which by mechanism to be hereinafter described is ven sudden rotations through 180 followed y stationary periods. The total sum of these angular movements of the guide member 70 is etiual to the sum of the angularmovements of e frame 100 in the same time. 2 Accordingly the continuous rotation of the wires 102 at the bobbins in the frame 100 istranslated into a stepby step rotation between the guide member 70 and the. take-up pulley 103 thus resulting in the step :by step type of twistingshown in Figure 1. i 'The' mechanism bywhich this result is obtained willnowbe described.

A hearing pillar l is firmly fastened to the member 2 of a wire-twinning or qliliadding machine, in conjunction with whic the mechanism is to be used. The bearing pillar 1 carries a bearing 6 which is formed at one end into a crank 7 and has at the other end a toothed chain wheel 8 keyed on it. The frame or foundation 10 of the mechanism is formed at one end into a bearing block 11 to which is attached a bearing cap 12; the bearing 6 turns freely within the bearing block and upon the bearing pillar 1, being registered between a fixedcollar l3 and a washer 14 fastened to the end of the bearing pillar,

A second chain wheel 16, the axis of which coincides with the horizontal path of the pair of wires to be twisted, rotates at a speed equal to that of the mean speed of rotation of the wires. The chain wheel 8 is driven from the chain wheel 16 by means of a chain drive 17, the gear ratio being such that the speed of rotation of the former is exactly twice that of the latter. By virtue of the connection previously explained the crank 7 rotates at the same'speed as the chain wheel 8. This rotation is transmitted to a cross-head 18 by a connectin rod 19. The cross-head'lS is provided wit two grooves enabling it to move freely along two guides 22 and 23 within a slot 24 in a'rack 25 A spindle 26, carried by and free to turn within the cross-head 18, carries a catch 27 which rides upon the projecting wall 28 of the rack 25, and a 'tail catch 29 the two catches 2 7 and29 are rigidly fixed to the spindle 26 so that they move as one member.

The path of. the rack 25 is regulated by two guidin piecesBO and 31 fastened to the frame 10; t e guide 30 engages with the inner guide faces 22 and 23, while the guide 31 n age w th o t r wa e ces 4 an 35. en atrest the rac 25 is held by a hel c p ing 6 a t a stop 3! he p tion. of which is a j t e by me n o a adj i g rew 8; t e d of t adjust,-

ing screw 38 is housed in a bearing piece 39 fastened by two set screws 40 and 41 to the ne end of he r m 0, h c bee in p c also acts as an anchorage for the helical Sp n 3 1 Considering the rack 25 to be in this position of rest (see Figure 8) a complete cycle of operations is Obt ined in the following manner. Theconnecting rod, starting from theposition indicated in Figure 7 moves to,- wards the left-hand sideof-the figure to the position shown in Figure. 8, and near the end of its stroke the tail catch 29. is pressed a n a iasi g pri 2- At the b g nning of he return 's ke. d W the fem xer d y h sp ng 42, he atc gages with a notch 43 in the projecting Wall 28 of the rack. Due to this engagement the onnecting rod 1 ra t eraek 25 wi the pul f t espr ng; 36 u n -the et n notch 43.

i stroke; :this is the idle, stroke of the track. At a, certain predetermined position, shown in Figure :7, the tail catch 29 comes into eon- 1 tact with an inclined face 44 causing it to.

'turnebout-the spindle 26 thereby lifting thecatch 27 out oftheflnotch 48; the rack 25,

{being released, moves rapidly back. to its original position against the. stop 37 under .theaction of the spring 36,-thiSis-thework- -,ing stroke of thelrack. Theinclined face or;

cam -44 is incorporated with a spindle 45 which is-held in position by'two eye bears ,ings 46and 47 fastened tothe frame lO; the spindle 45gis threaded at each end-to receive a gthe-finger nuts 49 and 50-by meansof which itmaybe movedtransversely to the direction of movement-of theraek 25, thus pro- -=vi ding the line 'adjustment of the f exact in- .stant at which the tail catch 29 is rotated tsuificientlylto release .the catch 27 from.. the

As shown inFigure '7 the rack 25 has two sets of teeth 51- and 52 ,inmesh with two annularipinio'ns 53 and 54 which rotate in opposite directions'and are connectedto the giiidemembers 71 and 70 by a free wheel mechani sm so that a the guide members are rotated by the workingstroke only The length-of the stroke of the rack 25 is so regu late d means of the. adjustable stop. 37 and the inclined face on cam 44 thattheannular pinions53andi54 are turned through exactly "180? 'for each workingstroke. Figure 7 illustrates the: position 'ofthegmechanism with reference to the-main machineframeQ which en-ables aipair "of }wires passing. along the axis of the annular pinion tobe given a right hand twist: during the working stroke 7 6f therack 25. f f The mechanism isheld in'this POSlt-lQIl: by a set screw 56 which; fastens the 'framelO to a pillar attached' to the main machinel frame 2. Inorder to obtain a left handtwist the set screw 56. is removed and the mechanism is rotated bodily abo-utthe axis of the bearing 6 into a position which 'j' enables the set screw 56 to be screwed into a second pillar 60, this second pillar 60 being exactly 'similarto the first pillar 57. The

new position brings the annular pinion 53 into the original position of the annular pinion 54 coinciding with' thevaxis-ofi-the pair of wires to be twisted.

The one-way drives to the guide members 7 0 and Iare supported within the bottom housing 63, shown in elevationby Figure 9,'and the top housing 64, similarly shown in Figure 10; The bottom housing 63. is kept in position relative to the frame 10. by four spacing tubes through, which pass four studs 66. Four special .studs67,being inteia nally threaded toreceive the studs 66, serve to hold the bottom housing-63 firmly against the spacing tubes 65' and also" support the tophousing 64 whichis heldthereon by four nuts and washers 69'. Since the operationof the, one-way drives to both the guide emembers 70 and 71:is the same in both cases, a; detailed description is given of the drive to the guide member70 only, withreference to Figures 4,

9 andfll. .Theguide member 7 0 is attached to thei hollow die62'b'ya tapered pin 7 2 The engaging faces of the die 62 andthe pinion 54 are provided with ratchet teeth 73 which are so formed thattheywill ride over-one another in onedirection but become firmly;

engaged when ope'rated in the other direction. A spring. 74 seated in a circular groove 7 inthe'top housingi64f-presses against. a bearing collar 7 6 which bears upon .anfimnular projection 77 and ensuresthat theratchet; teeth '7 3 engage during the working'stroke;

during the idle stroke the spring 74 allows suflicient lateral movement of the die 62to :al-

the working stroke but positively prevents [any return motion of the guide members dur- I ingthe idle stroke. I

As previously explained the length of trave1 ofthe rack 25 is so regulatedthat the guides Imember turns through 180 for every working stroke. To prevent any tendencyfor the .guide, member to over-run this amount it is l ametricallyopposite to each other and. a stop;:; 84 is automatically operated near the end of ;he; working stroke so thatit engageswith the projections on both; guide members.

The head--85 or the stop 84: is has by t spring86 against the face oftherack 25 ;in

this position the end of the-stopis just, clear otthepath. of the projections 82 and83 as shown in Figure 11 Projecting pieces28 and that :towards the end ofthe working stroke the stop is pushed against the action of the spring 861151 1161 engages with the projections upon the guide members. The stop 84 works in.;g,uide bearings 89and 90 incorporated in 1 .thetoP-and bottomhousings- The addition of'a second entails very little addition to themass of the moving partssince both members are operated by .a common; drive and are positively 7 prevented from' over-runn ng by; a common c ontrolling stopln The iwires of the pair to betwisited in the ,mechanismijust described are brought tothe guide member?!) or :71 whichever is in, use) froma pair; of: bobbins rotated in a :frame I .1 00 so, as to: turn continuously about an axis forming an extension of the axis of} rotation, of the guidemember. Thi ;.rotation takes guide member provided with two projections 82 and 83 di-.

" 88;areiformedlupontheiface of the rack'so P136? et' l anlespeede t c at onl t ie .1 3 1 Wheat-E16 Ther -a e+.th ade l through an aperture in the wheel 16'fand its support" and pass thence through the tube formed within the mechanism and through a pair of tubes 104 mounted on the guide mcmin pairs in sudden separate steps of twisting,

ber and on to a draw-off wheel 103 (Figure 2) at which the twisting of the wires ceases.

What I claim'as my invention and desire to-secure by Letters Patent is 1. Apparatus for'twisting together wires in pairs in sudden separate stepsof'twisting, comprising a guide member for the' ward said rack relatively slowly, means for wires,means for drawing forward the wires through saidmember and means-for rotating saidmember with a step by step movement, said rotating means comprlsing a vgearing memben neans for drawing forward said member relatively slowly, means for return ing-said member quickly and a one-way driving connection between the said gearing member and said guide mmeber operative durin the return movement of the former.

2. pparatus for twisting together wires in pairs in sudden separate steps of twisting,

comprising a guide member for the wires,

comprising a'guide member for the wires,

means for drawing forward the wires through said member and means for rotating said 'member with a step by step movement, said rotating means comprising a gearingmember, means for drawing forward said member relatively slowly, means for returning said member quickly and a one-waydriving connection between the said gearing member and said guide member operative'during the returnmovement of the former andproducing the rota'tionof the guide member through 180 at-each such movement.

3. Apparatus for twisting together wires in pairs in sudden separate steps of twisting,

means for drawing forward the wires through said member, means for rotating said member witha step by step movement, said roating means comprising a gearing member, means for drawing forward said 'member relatively slowly, means for returning "said Y ning of said guide member, said mechanism being actuated by the gearing member as it approaches the end of the return stroke.

5. Apparatus for twisting together wires comprising two guide members for the wires,

Ineans fordrawing forward the wiresthrough either one of said members, means for rotatingsaid members with a step by step movement, said rotating meanscomprising 'a double faced rack, means for drawing orreturning said rack quickly, a pinionon each side of said rack and a one-way driving connection between each said pinion and one of the guide members for the wires, and a movable frame carrying said rack and pinions and guide memb'ersand permitting either-of the two guide members to bebrou ht into operative position according as a rig t hand or a left hand twisting of the wires is required.

6; Apparatus for twisting together -wires in pairs in sudden separate steps of twisting,

comprising a guide member for thewires,

meanstor drawing forward the wires through said member, and means for rotating said member with a step by step movement, said vrotating means comprising a gearing meIn-s member quicklyanda one-way driving con- Q nection between the said gearing member and said guide member operative during thereturn movement of the former, and an automatic stop mechanism preventing overrunmng of said'guide member.

4. Apparatus for twisting together'wires in pairs in sudden separate steps of, twisting,

comprising a guide member for the wires,

means for drawingforward the wires through said member, means for rotating psaldme'mher with astep by step movement,said rotating means compris ng a gearing member, means for "drawing QIW2 tId"S8 J1d member relatively slowly, means for returning said member quickly and a one-way driving con- 'neetion between the said gearing member and said guide member operative during the return movement'ofthe former, and; anau'tomatic stop mechanism preventing overrun- 

